Invention boosts smartphone batteries by 30 per cent

Smartphone batteries could soon last 30 per cent longer, thanks to a new invention that charges phones through the use of wasted radio signals.

A team from Ohio State University, led by Professor Chi-Chih Chen, is responsible for creating the device, which will only add a small amount of weight to a smartphone and will eventually be made into a stick-on phone skin. Currently, around 97 per cent of mobile phone signals are wasted, because the devices send signals in all directions in order to reach the nearest tower. This device aims to use the right amount of these signals in order to extend the phone’s battery life.

The radio waves can easily be converted into DC, which makes charging the battery possible. Since smartphone batteries are known for being poor, this technology could be of huge benefit, as users would never miss out on an important text message, phone call or email. However, the radio signals can only be converted into battery power when the user is sending text messages or making a call, reports ibtimes.co.uk.

Chi-Chih Chen, research associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, commented: “When we communicate with a cell tower or Wi-Fi router, so much energy goes to waste. We recycle some of that wasted energy back into the battery.”